She began spending more time with Jake's supposed business associates. A few of them, Mike said, appeared in photographs wearing promotional lanyards and carrying tablets, the sort of accessories that made an enterprise look established even if nothing behind it was. Jake talked about a new partnership that would require temporary funding before a larger investor contribution arrived. Zoe had studied marketing, not finance, and she believed she could help bring the project to market. She apparently treated the investment as a shared step toward their future.
I want to be careful about what I claim to know. I never met Jake, never saw his business documents, and wasn't part of the conversations where Zoe agreed to give him money. Most of this reached me through Mike or through things she told me later when she wanted help. It would be easy to turn a person I'd never met into a cartoon villain. The available facts were bad enough without inventing a darker version to make the story more satisfying.
What was clear was that Zoe transferred a large portion of her savings into accounts Jake said were connected to the venture. Some of the money she'd accumulated came from her work; some had been saved during the years I paid more than half our living expenses. At the time she transferred it, she apparently believed she was investing in something legitimate. She later said she had been promised paperwork and a share in the business, but the promises kept moving further away each time she asked for the documents.
At first, Jake blamed delays. A venue contract hadn't been signed, a sponsor needed more time, a bank was holding funds for routine compliance checks. He told her serious opportunities required patience and that questioning him in front of partners made her look inexperienced. When she asked for a full accounting, he reportedly grew angry. He said she didn't trust him and suggested her doubts were the reason they were having problems.
That detail made my stomach twist. I remembered how Zoe had described my questions after the first Vegas trip as controlling, even when I was simply asking where we'd stood. Now she was apparently hearing a similar accusation from someone she trusted, and it was being used to keep her from examining a financial decision. The irony was there, but it didn't make the situation safe or deserved. Being unfaithful to me did not mean she deserved to be defrauded.
Then Jake stopped answering calls. His social media accounts vanished or changed names, according to the people Mike spoke with. The business address Zoe had been given turned out not to be an office she could visit and find him in. The acquaintances she'd met through him were suddenly difficult to reach. By the time she admitted she might have been scammed, the money was gone from the accounts she controlled.